Can Your Website Handle a 200 Percent Jump in Traffic?

Published on Apr 14, 2011

Summary

Read 'Celebrate Small Business Saturday in November' at 'Time to Start Up,' the small business blog by BizFilings.

A company's website is perhaps its most important marketing tool, serving as the primary means of contact and information for consumers and prospects. However, new research suggests the vast majority of small companies are not prepared to handle a dramatic rise in traffic.
According to a survey released Wednesday by network solutions provider Neustar, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of small to mid-sized companies' websites would not be able to handle a 200 percent jump in traffic - a feasible increase for expanding enterprises.
The data point out a key concern, as the last thing a growing company would want is for their website to crash.
"Many small businesses, particularly those powered by online marketing and increasingly dependent on ecommerce, know they might see spikes in online traffic anytime," said small business consultant and columnist Gene Marks, "but they're not ready for it."
"These firms have become accustomed to free services with limited capabilities," Marks added, "and this becomes a serious problem when they need to scale up in a hurry."
While advances in IT and cloud computing technologies may ease the burden in coming years, it is important that small businesses optimize their websites to handle growth projections.